The need to include food as part of treatments for people treated with Tuberculosis (TB) has been described as one of the issues that must be implemented.
This was said by the Minister of Health, Mr. Selibe Mochoboroane at the opening ceremony of the 15th Network of African Parliamentary Committees of Health (NEAPACOH) two-day meeting which is currently hosted by Lesotho from Wednesday.
In his remarks, Mr. Mochoboroane said this meeting comes at an opportune time when countries are battling with pandemics and non-communicable diseases, which need collaborative efforts to end them.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic is among the factors which have proven that African countries need to up their strategies and implement more measures to fight the pandemic.
He further revealed that Lesotho is in the process of establishing a Cancer Centre, which is intended to battle cervical cancer and the aim is to reach the 90 70 90 global target.
He mentioned that the target will focus on having 90 percent of girls up to the age of 19 be put on the HPV vaccine, 70 percent of women between the ages of 35 to 45 be screened for cancer and 90 percent of them identified with cervical cancer are on treatment.
Also speaking, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Tlohang Sekhamane said on behalf of Lesotho, he is proud that the meeting is held in Lesotho as it has for the past 15 years been held in Uganda.
He said currently the Parliament of Lesotho is made up of at least 90 percent of new parliamentarians who will acquire knowledge and skills from this meeting that will implement towards creating health services that are accessible to every citizen without financial constraints.
On the other hand, the Chairperson of NEAPACOH, Mr. Mokhothu Makhalanyane said this meeting is intended to give a platform to African countries to share ideas and knowledge on how inequalities can be moved out of the way to enable access to quality health services in African countries.
He explained that collaborative efforts should be put together to enable African countries to achieve quality health services for their people.
Mr. Makhalanyane noted that there is a need to foster relationships to achieve Africa that is better and healthier.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director Health Services Preparedness, Dr Stella Chungona highlighted that collaboration with Parliamentarians on health related issues is a priority to allow African countries to build one word on improved health services across Africa.
Meanwhile, the UNDP Country Representative for Lesotho Ms. Amanda Khosi-Mukwashi said the state of health in the African continent is of a good question and eye-opening as it reflects that there is a need for more to be done to ensure quality health services in the continent.
Maternal deaths and inadequate funds were reported to still be top of the health issues that the African continent is facing.
The meeting is attended by representatives from about 23 countries which include Bali, Bernini, Chad, Eswatini, Gambia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nige, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia to mention a few.
Source: LENA 28/02/2024
